My feelings towards integration are far from positive. Iíd say they have moved from indifference, to just pure distaste. I feel that integration moves too far away from Nerf as a whole, and starts to form something that is not the half Nerf, half self improved game that we have come to know and love.

Nerf guns were produced with proportional advantages and disadvantages. You could take almost any gun, and be able to name its key advantages and disadvantages. The concept of modifications is to increase the advantages of oneís gun, but it does not rebuild the gun and make it into a new super-weapon. I agree that a gun does not make a player, as Evil once said, but I do feel that a gun with innumerable advantages can make a mediocre player a sizable force to an experienced veteran.

Maybe the voice of insecurity speaks here, but integration remains to be a proportional enhancer. Integration allows for a new type of gun to be created, one that takes all fairness and dumps it on the side of the highway. Integration allows for certain aspects of guns to be swapped with others to make something better. In my opinion, Nerf should be about having your own sizable disadvantages and advantages and being able to compensate for them accordingly. If a combination were introduced that seriously decreased the disadvantages, much of the challenge to Nerf would be missing. Integration would be like an athlete taking steroids and then judging everyone else by the tampered athleteís standards.

Nerf has its realms. We as a community have morphed it into something that is uniquely our own, as a community and individually. We have modifications for almost every gun and a rather large selection of homemade weapons. One should ask where our boundaries lie? Integration teeters on the line of NIC Nerf and its own type of war game.

The pros and cons of Nerf guns that I spoke of before are the base of my argument. Nerf is about balancing playing styles, gun types, and environment. The less balancing that is needed, the easier it is to dominate the field. According to that theory, integration allows for a player to eliminate some of his/her problems on the battlefield with one quick fix. A quick fix is not how someone should dominate the field. It should be done through experience and hard work. As Garth said, No one likes integration, if integration were an ice cream flavor, it would be pralines and dick.

Evil Just Thinks Shindig Needs a Hug

My good friend Shindig did a positively superb job arguing his point and established it very well. But as you guessed, now itís my time to spit some rhetoric and add my thoughts on the topic of integration. As most of you know, my two primaries are two distinct integrations. Now I use those guns, as most other Nerfers do, for their efficiency and reliability. They [all integrations] do cut down on disadvantages, which face their internals, but Iím not terribly sure how that makes me or any of my pro-integration friends out to be the bad guys.

Nerf guns are sold in boxes, weak and less lethal than their true capacity. We mod Nerf guns, wouldnít that be overcoming their set disadvantages and put more simply, arenít we thus pushing them too far? Integrations are the next level above that, it is the higher level, it is the attempt to overcome the more notable disadvantages of a Nerf gun.

Call me crazy, but how is it that pressing the boundaries of Nerf a bad thing? Thatís simply moving forward. Evolution has no set or defined boundaries, why should Nerf when it comes to modding. When it comes down to it, integrated Nerf guns are Nerf guns, merely bound in order to dissolve the disadvantages that normally occur. Let us not forget my friends that the player makes the player, the gun is merely an extension there of, and true talent will shine through in the most adverse instances.

To say that Nerf has its realms is limiting the game itself. Limiting the game is limiting the players, and when the players canít add that new lifeblood now and again to add to the game, then the game itself gets old. Integrations add something new to the game; the player compensates and overcomes some (not all) disadvantages with a cunning eye for uniqueness and creativity. Nerf is as much about doing your own thing, and being successful at it, as any other sport or game. Itís all about moving forward on your own terms. Vacc has Binky, and heís good with it, what does that say about him knowing that Binky is not an integration. Iím not half bad and my weapon of choice is an integration. This furthers my point that a gun doesnít designate talent or raw ability; it merely is an extension of what is already there.

To wrap it up, Nerf is a game based upon creativity and moving forward. Integrations are as Nerf as any other form. They are Nerf guns with modded Nerf internals merely under a different guise. If you take away anything from this article, I would appreciate it if you merely looked at both sides of the argument and didnít even choose one. You do what you do, and keep doing that. If thatís what really does it for you, keep it up and do it well my friends. Nerf is about enjoying yourself, and if your thing is integrations, well Iím glad to hear it. And if youíre more of the mainstream Nerfer, not a fan of integrations, well than Iím glad to hear it just as well. Stay true to why you Nerf, and what makes you Nerf.

Hmm, I never reall thought about that, as I was aweing in the glory of my friend's amazing integrated crossbow. But now that I think about it, it's almost like having a videogame in which the character can always access a gun that has a loser, assault rifle, and rocket launcher mode on it. It takes away some of the essence of the video game; knowing when and where to use each gun. If you don't integrate, it brings back this theme. This also limits your ability to carry all arsenal types onto the battlefield -therefore- you need to strategically pick the guns that you want to bring without bringing too many (it's kind of hard to run with eight guns strapped on your back, a pistol in each hand and in each pocket).
-AirApache

I agree, integrations can start to make the game quite one sided. But modding does the same thing when playing amongst people with stock guns, and having enough to get a longshot rather than having a maverick is a similar example.
Integrations aren't easy to do, and can accidentally screw up your gun. I live in Australia, and a maverick is about $18. I've already broken two trying to mod them, and pretty much screwed up my recon. For this reason, I am not going to attempt an integration, at least not until I have access to cheap nerf guns.
Someone who makes an integration is risking their blasters, and deserves a reward for their time, effort and the risk.

I agree, integrations can start to make the game quite one sided. But modding does the same thing when playing amongst people with stock guns, and having enough to get a longshot rather than having a maverick is a similar example. Integrations aren't easy to do, and can accidentally screw up your gun. I live in Australia, and a maverick is about $18. I've already broken two trying to mod them, and pretty much screwed up my recon. For this reason, I am not going to attempt an integration, at least not until I have access to cheap nerf guns.Someone who makes an integration is risking their blasters, and deserves a reward for their time, effort and the risk.

You necroed a topic that is over 6 years old.Goodbye for a year.

Edited by CaptainSlug, 08 June 2010 - 12:41 PM.

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The little critters of nature, they don't know that they're ugly. That's very funny, a fly marrying a bumble bee. I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me. Why didn't you believe me?